


On Birthdays

by missema



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Babies, Birthday, Birthday Sex, F/M, Pregnancy, happiness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-05
Updated: 2017-10-05
Packaged: 2019-01-09 12:38:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12276642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missema/pseuds/missema
Summary: Prompt for King Alistair and Queen Cousland celebrating the first birthday of their son.





	On Birthdays

There were so many strange and wonderful twists to his life, Alistair thought it was silly to enumerate them all. Saying "I never thought I'd fall in love, stop the Blight and be crowned King of Ferelden" was always tops on that list. And yet he woke up early on the day his son turned one, full of a wondrous energy that belied how damn tired he was. There were no early nights to bed for a King, no times when an emergency could be handled by someone else and leave him to uninterrupted sleep, and certainly not many mornings when he could lay about in bed.

"Alistair, he's not up yet, I promise you. Come back to bed," Cordelia's muzzy voice said when he got up and started to wash.

"But it's William's birthday," he protested when he re-emerged from the water basin. "I just want to play with him and give him his presents before I get stuck doing work."

"Will doesn't know it's his birthday, and he won't be pleased if you go to the nursery to wake him up to play. Let him wake up and be fed before you go down there. How about giving your wife a present instead?" she asked and suddenly all of Alistair was very awake.

He turned back to the bed where Cordelia was laying on one side, watching him. Fifteen years. It had been fifteen years since the end of the Blight and they'd married and she'd become his queen in truth and title. He almost couldn't believed it, but he'd lived every one of those fifteen years, only made bearable by her at his side. Her dark hair, so close to black but truly just dark brown, was longer than usual and tied back from her face in a loose braid that fell over one shoulder. One very naked shoulder that slipped from the linen nightdress she wore.

Alistair went back over to the bed and kissed his wife. She was warm with sleep but responsive, bringing him closer to her with a hand on the back of his neck. Their baby looked very like her, with dark brown skin closer to hers than his own and her dark hair. William Duncan Cousland Theirin had his father's eyes, and a nose that proclaimed him very much a Theirin. He remembered thinking once, long before Ostagar that the nose was the thing that he and Cailan had in common, and it must have been from their father. Countless portraits of Maric the Savior around the castle here in Denerim had proved that true.

Just as his thoughts threatened to be taken by more mundane things, Cordy pushed him back against the bed. He went without protest, knowing that she'd never hurt him. When he was flat on his back, she straddled his waist in a very pleasing way. Tendrils of hair framed her face as she sat above him.

"It's been a long time since I've seen you from this position, Alistair. Let's make the most of it this morning." He agreed, not with words but with a caress up her thigh that plunged beneath her nightshirt, his shirt, he realized, and up further until he saw her close her eyes to savor the sensation of his touch.

#

William was awake when Alistair did manage to get down there, after breakfast. Cordelia had ridden him back to a deep sleep that lasted less than an hour until he had to absolutely get up or throw his whole day off schedule. The Queen, that minx, hadn't gone back to bed and was busy holding Will when he came in the room.

The three of them spent a good deal of time together most days. He and Cordelia worked together, sharing a study to work out of and attending many of the same meetings. He held his son at a good number of them, or she did, or they rocked him in his little bed that stayed in their joint study. But for his naps and changing and feeding, the nursery took care of most of that. Alistair didn't shy away from the work -- it was just the opposite -- he liked the feeding and burping and changing. Those were the parts that he would tell his son about when he was older, that he was there for them, that he loved them even when they were smelly and unpleasant. No one had ever told him that. He wasn't even sure who changed him or helped him learn to walk. Some servant of Eamon's no doubt.

That morning William was just finishing his breakfast, Cordelia feeding him with a tiny spoon and an apron over her clothes. They were both giggling, mother and son, and Alistair relished the scene. As he came over William looked up at him and gave a gurgling smile. He put a hand on Cordelia's back to let her know he was there, and she turned to him with the same smile she'd been giving their baby.

"He's ready for a little daddy time, and for some singing. I've made time for both of us at lunch so we can celebrate with him, and Teagan's here so he'll join us."

"Teagan's here again?" Alistair asked, distracted as Cordelia finished the feeding. William turned away from the spoon and she set it down, wiping his face with a cloth.

"He arrived this morning. He's resting now." She picked William up out of his tiny chair and over the table where his food sat. A waiting attendant quickly whisked the table and extraneous food out of the way as Cordy handed him to Alistair. 

"We should go to Highever House for the summer. It's been too long since we left Denerim," she said and looked away from him.

Highever House was the home he'd built her as a surprise, so they could spend the summers close to Fergus Cousland. Fergus, himself remarried with three children, didn't mind them staying at Castle Cousland, but Cordelia never felt comfortable there. He supposed he wouldn't either if his parents had been murdered there. The first time they'd tried to go back, she hadn't been able to go in, the memories had been too strong, extinguished flames licked at her heels and the faces of the dead loomed, haunting. They'd had to stay at an inn on short notice until one of the arls could host them. Ten years ago he'd built the house for her, so close the water he could hear it lapping against the shore in the their bedroom, but they had yet to take William there.

"I'm due to leave for Starkhaven in eight days," Alistair reminded her.

"Come home to Highever afterwards. We can be there waiting," she said, her tone pleading. 

Alistair kissed her and then William, both of them giving him identical smiles afterward. "Of course," he said, trying not to think about how much work a sudden departure to the Highever House would cause.

#

Teagan had come early to Denerim for William's birthday, and to update Alistair and Cordelia of all the news from Redcliffe and beyond since his last visit. As far as guests went, Teagan was his favorite, because he was so easy to deal with from Alistair's perspective. His uncle was ready with advice and good at listening. Teagan was to accompany him to the Free Marches, but after meeting with Prince Vael of Starkhaven, Teagan would be going on to Ansburg to visit his mother's relatives.

At lunch Cordelia outfitted them all in party hats and they went to the nursery, where all of William's presents already were stacked. Teagan brought him set of hand-carved blocks with his letters and numbers of them, and another set with the traditional dwarven letters and numbers on it. He must have gotten them from Orzammar, or had a surface dwarf make them. Probably the latter, since they were wooden blocks.

Alistair had a rocking horse made for his son, one that matched Alistair's own horse. Cordelia got him a stuffed mabari with a bell inside, and somehow found a toy golem to give him. Their own gifts were modest compared to the ones that were sent from other nobles and monarchs trying to gain their favor. The Orlesians had sent a whole slew of gifts that neither he nor Cordelia had the time or inclination to look over yet. Maybe he'd have one of the nurses do it and then send the whole lot of them to Highever House for William to use over the summer. There were a few from prominent Fereldan families, and many more from Antiva than their lukewarm relations with the country warranted, but he suspected Zevran's influence there.

"Are you all right, Your Highness?" Teagan asked Cordelia. Alistair looked over to see his wife looking a little faint, but she simply smiled.

"It's a big day, Will's first birthday. I'm just a little overtired," she replied and shot Alistair a look that would have made him blush years ago. "And we've decided to go to Highever House for the summer, so I must get started on those preparations. Let's give William his cake now," she suggested.

He couldn't help but think it was more than just a little morning sex making her tired, though she was trying to hide it for William's birthday. Maybe Cordelia was right to want to leave for Highever House for the summer. She seemed to be wilting here in Denerim, despite her sunny smile and strong voice as she sang William into his first birthday party ever.

#

Six weeks later, Highever House

She was pregnant again, she'd known it on Will's birthday and now she was absolutely sure. After she got the Warden cure, they'd tried so hard for a baby and none had come for years. Now she was older and she seemed to have no problem getting the babies she'd so desperately prayed for when she was younger. She was absolutely terrified, if she were being honest. She wanted Morrigan or Wynne or someone who knew her, knew what this meant to her and Alistair and William, but Wynne was with Andraste now, and Morrigan beyond her reach. 

Alistair had written to her only a couple times since he'd left, and then mostly just updates. She was supposed to working to keep Ferelden strong, but in truth, she'd been hiding. Keeping her feet up, playing with Will, drinking tea until the sunset and she could go back to bed. Maker, she was so tired, she felt like she needed fourteen hours of sleep each night.

The days and weeks since her flight from Denerim all wound together, and aside from answering some letters each day, she did little work. She waited for Alistair to get back to her and William, so she could tell him first. Fergus knew, she could tell that he knew when he called on her and she was sleeping in the middle of the day, but he asked her nothing whenever they saw each other.

"My darling, Will, you're going to be a big brother," she whispered, desperate to tell anyone. She was playing with Will out in the sunlight, letting him soak up the brilliant sunshine of the coast. They played in the garden, because the dirt was her son's favorite companion, even more than the promise of waves. She planted and tended, and Will played, discovering worms and enjoying the delicate taste of the soil.

While Denerim was technically a port city as well, it didn't feel the way Highever did, didn't have beaches. It just had a dock and a coastline, boats that moved ceaselessly in and out with commerce. There were no bathers, no one playing, barely anyone fishing. It was just water that served a purpose for transport, the same as if it had been landlocked and surrounded by roads.

"So who shall we tell next?" Cordelia asked her baby, watching him smile and gurgle as she held him. Will was filthy, but happy, and she appreciated that. She thought about Fergus, who already knew, but shook her head at herself. She'd need to tell someone soon, her belly had popped sooner this time, but the midwives said it often came on like that after the first pregnancy. If she didn't, her dressmaker would spread the gossip before she could have a chance to tell people on her own. "We have a secret, and it's no good to just keep it to ourselves."

"I do enjoy a good secret," Alistair said from somewhere behind her, and Cordelia nearly dropped the baby.

"You're home," she breathed, turning to face him. It felt like an age since he'd left for Starkhaven and then onto Kirkwall before coming back to Ferelden. Six weeks since Will's birthday, and she'd been in Highever for four of them. "Look Will, it's Daddy," she said louder as Alistair drew closer to them.

He looked tired, but he had perpetually since taking the crown. It was part of the reason why she'd married him, not just because she'd loved him with all of her broken self when they'd lived through Ostagar, but because she knew how exhausting and lonely leadership could be. He'd helped her defeat the Blight, she helped him lead Ferelden's recovery. They were good like that. She handed the dirty baby to him after a quick hug that nearly cracked her ribs, and watched as Alistair received happy kisses from their son. Will left dirt on Alistair's traveling clothes, but neither of them seemed to mind.

"Welcome daddy home, baby," she said to Will, and then took Alistair's hand and put it on her already rounding stomach. "Both of you."

It took a moment for him to understand, but when he did, first his eyes crinkled into a smile, and then she saw it bloom on his face. His handsome face, which she'd loved for so long, looked happier than she could have imagined it being when they'd first met. This time would be harder, she knew, but they'd waited so long for this part of their lives to come to fruition, especially after the Blight and the taint of Wardenhood, and her trauma in dealing with the deaths of her family. It had been so long coming, but she was all at once, happy again.


End file.
